A quick ND Filter question or 2

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debbiejo

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Hi Guys

I have a quick question about ND filters. I understand what they do and what they are for, but I have never used them before. I have always added them in Photoshop when I needed to.

But I want to do some playing and I’m a little baffled. It seems different manufacturers have different grading for them. Is this the case or am I just getting it all wrong?

Can someone make a recommendation for density to give me a chance of getting some movement into my landscapes? Also, can I add ND filters together, sort of in a daisy chain?

Many thanks
Debs
 
I dont get how you can 'add them in photoshop'. An ND will obstruct a certain ammount of light, giving different shutter/aperture/iso values, something which cannot be done in photoshop.

If you buy in a square filter system you can avoid vignetting and the cost of buying a second set of filters to fit a different lens thread size. You can also stack 3 or 4 this way. You can also buy much higher quality square filters.

I went for 3-stop ND filters since it is very easy to add one or two stops, but three seems more worth while if you know what I mean.
 
Blue Eagle said:
I dont get how you can 'add them in photoshop'. An ND will obstruct a certain ammount of light, giving different shutter/aperture/iso values, something which cannot be done in photoshop.

If you buy in a square filter system you can avoid vignetting and the cost of buying a second set of filters to fit a different lens thread size. You can also stack 3 or 4 this way. You can also buy much higher quality square filters.

I went for 3-stop ND filters since it is very easy to add one or two stops, but three seems more worth while if you know what I mean.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your advice :)

There are many things that can be done in Photoshop and adding ND filters and Grad ND filters is one of them. You just have to have the right plugins and its amazing what can be done. But as with all "in the compter" processing, it has it's limits.

Thanks again
Debs
 
debbiejo said:
Thanks for your advice :)

There are many things that can be done in Photoshop and adding ND filters and Grad ND filters is one of them. You just have to have the right plugins and its amazing what can be done. But as with all "in the compter" processing, it has it's limits.

Thanks again
Debs
Click to expand...

I cant see how this is possible so would love to see a example of this ;)
 
OK, You can add ND filter effects! wasn't crystal clear on that one.

It has it's limits which is why I want to use actuall filters.

Sorry guys :shrug:
 
Easy enough in PS to add a colour grad layer to overlay the image and, for example, darken down a sky in a similar way that an ND grad would, BUT only if the sky is not blown out in the first place. There's no way PS can bring back information to a blown sky and, in this respect at least, can't replicate an ND grad filter preventing the sky from blowing out in the first place
 
Hi Guys

Really sorry about this. I just wanted some advice on ND filters.

Please don't worry about it.

Thanks
 
debbiejo said:
Hi Guys

I have a quick question about ND filters. I understand what they do and what they are for, but I have never used them before. I have always added them in Photoshop when I needed to.

But I want to do some playing and I’m a little baffled. It seems different manufacturers have different grading for them. Is this the case or am I just getting it all wrong?

Can someone make a recommendation for density to give me a chance of getting some movement into my landscapes? Also, can I add ND filters together, sort of in a daisy chain?

Many thanks
Debs
Click to expand...

You mean ND filters, dark all over, not half-dark ND Grads? I only ask as you can't replicate NDs in Photoshop, but you can do something similar to Grads using HDR technique.

Anyway, assuming ND filters is what you want, then to get real movement and blur in your pictures you need to get the exposure down to a few full seconds, rather than a few fractions of a second. So a dark one. B+W do both six stops and ten stops versions which are popular. You can certainly stack them together for a darker effect, but you'll probably get some practical problems along the way, so not ideal.

Just a note on using them, make sure you cover the viewfinder during the exposure as light creeps in through chinks around the mirror and can cause streaking. Your camera probably came with a little rubber shield for this, attached to the strap.
 
:)
 
guys.. but square ones or screw in? what about hood while using a square filter - flare etc?
 
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